UK Parents Worry About Their Children’s Employment Prospects

A New Study by Arlington Research Reveals Uncertainty Around the Negative Impact of Brexit, AI and Social Media

Despite recent figures from the Department for Work and Pensions stating UK employment rates are at a record high, UK parents are worried about employment prospects for their children. Confusion surrounding Brexit and the introduction of technology such as artificial intelligence (AI) are both a major concern according to a new survey by Arlington Research.

A survey of 1000 parents living in the UK with children aged 0 to 18 years old found that 48% believe Brexit will hurt their children’s employment opportunities. This rises to over half (53%) when looking at the responses of fathers in the UK. There are interesting regional differences with concern amongst 59% of Scottish parents, 55% of London parents compared to 48% of parents in Wales and 47% off parents in England overall.

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Reviewing other concerns UK parents have, survey results reveal that 43% worry their children will struggle to find a job because roles will be replaced by AI. Again, fathers are the most pessimistic of parents with 48% of those surveyed saying they are worried about AI’s influence of their children’s job prospects. Parents in Scotland and Wales are more pessimistic than the UK overall with 54% worrying that their children will struggle to find a job because roles will be made redundant by AI.

“Being a parent is probably the most important role of our lives and it is interesting to see that over four-in-ten of the people surveyed have genuine fears and concerns for the careers of their children. I feel that a fundamental issue for this is the lack of clarity around the topics. People feel passionately about the pros and cons for both Brexit and AI, but finding a balanced presentation of the facts is hard. Without clear data to help make an informed decision it will always be difficult for a parent to lose the fear factor,” explains Paul Stallard, MD of full-service research agency Arlington Research.

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In addition to topics that their children have little control over, the research highlights that parents feel worried about what their children are doing to help their future careers themselves. 48% of parents surveyed fear that what their children post on social media with hurt their future career opportunities. Parents in the West Midlands are more concerned than the national average about what their children post on social media with 55% being worried that posts will harm future career prospects.

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